Invincible arrives at her final resting place

Fresh bid made to save former Falklands flagship

AXED aircraft carrier HMS Invincible has arrived at a Turkish scrapyard to be broken up.

The warship, which left Portsmouth last month, was towed to Izmir in Turkey by an ocean-going tug after she was bought by Leyal Ship Recycling earlier this year.

It will take eight months to dismantle the carrier at the same scrapyard which disposed of Type 42 destroyers HMS Cardiff, HMS Glasgow and HMS Newcastle.

Asim Ozdogan from Leyal Ship Recycling said: ‘Like most ships, the HMS Invincible is made out of steel. The process of ship recycling involves cutting the ship in smaller pieces which are then sent for processing and recycling in steel mills.

‘There the steel is melted using electricity and is recast in ingots or slabs, which in turn will be used to make anything out of steel.’

Crowds gathered on the quayside to bid her farewell to Invincible when she left Portsmouth for the final time last month – almost 29 years to the day after she left Portsmouth on April 5, 1982 to fight in the Falklands War.

Ironically, Invincible passed Libya on her final voyage – where many defence experts say Britain needs an aircraft carrier to enforce the United Nations’ no-fly zone.

The ship, which boasted Prince Andrew among her crew in the Falklands War, was commissioned in 1980 and was the first in class of the navy’s three new aircraft carriers. Her sister ships were HMS Ark Royal and HMS Illustrious.